1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a network and to a method for exchanging information.
2. Description of the Related Art
Communication systems in motor vehicles typically include a plurality of different bus systems, such as CAN, LIN or FlexRay, for example. The communication systems are used for exchanging a multiplicity of brief pieces of information, which, depending on the resolution, are mostly smaller than 8 bytes, cyclically or in an event-controlled manner among connected control units. These pieces of information are combined by a particular control unit into brief messages. By combining individual pieces of information into messages, the bandwidth required for the transmission is reduced, since an improved ratio of metadata, respectively control data to the actual useful data is provided. The metadata are provided by a header and/or a trailer of the message. Typically, the header (head) includes information pertaining to a source address and/or target address, as well as a type of a data packet to be transmitted. Generally, a trailer (appendage) includes a checksum, as well as control and management information.
In comparison to automotive communications protocols, there is a substantial need for control data when working with the Internet Protocol (IP) in the realm of computer networks. In this case, a customary use is the transmission of large-volume data packets, which, in comparison to individual pieces of information within data packets that are transmitted in the motor vehicle, have a large proportion of useful data. These are typically files or streaming data that are transmitted using long data packets. In comparison to the useful data, the meta data here have a smaller volume, so that a favorable ratio between the meta and useful data is obtained.
When the Internet Protocol, respectively IP technology is used in the motor vehicle, an exchange of the brief pieces of information described above leads to an unfavorable utilization of the communication capacity. In comparison to an Internet transmission, the proportion of metadata within a data packet is large in the case of an IP transmission due to the system-related protocol overhead of metadata, so that an unfavorable ratio between the meta data and useful data results.